Stan Brakhage
Stan Brakhage is one of the most influential filmmakers in American avant-garde cinema, noted for his unflinching social commentaries and technical innovations. Over his nearly 40-year career, he has made over 200 films of varying length. He made his first film, Interim (1952) at age 18 after dropping out of college. Brakhage films seek to change the way we see. They encourage viewers to eschew traditional narrative structure in favor of pure visual perception that is not reliant on naming what is seen; rather his goal is to create a more visceral visual experience, for he believes that a "stream-of visual-consciousness could be nothing less than the pathway of the soul." To this end, his films are shot in highly sensual colors and utilize minimal soundtracks. His work can be divided into distinct periods. His first short films explored the properties and possibilities of light. In many of his experimental ventures, Brakhage has forgone traditional cinematography in favor of working directly with the film stock itself. He has occasionally painted, inked, scratched and dyed images onto it; he has also tried pasting organic objects on the film. His most famous example is the 1963 short Mothlight in which he glued moth wings onto the stock. Some of his early films were based on his most intimate experiences that included making love to his new bride--depicted on negative film--in Wedlock House: An Intercourse (1959), and an attempt to bring his dead dog back to life with a camera in Sirius Remembered (1959). During the 1960s, Brakhage's iconoclastic views were celebrated for their poetry, but during the '70s, his focus changed to social issues and he alienated many supporters with such disturbing film series as the "Pittsburgh documents" in which he presented many gruesome views of inner city life with films such as Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1971) which was shot in a morgue. He also continued with autobiographical material with the "Sincerity/Duplicity series. During the 1980s, Brakhage's focus again changed--this time he became intrigued with creating truly "abstract" films such as Arabics (1982) which consists of brilliant bursts of colored light which he claims, represent "envisioned music." In addition to filmmaking, Brakhage also wrote books about films and filmmaking and also served as a teacher.
Known For
Credits
- 2022 · Please Leave a Message: Anthology Film Archives Voicemails Through the Ages as
- 2021 · As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty as Self
- 2013 · Diaries, Notes, and Sketches as Self
- 2011 · Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film as Himself
- 2009 · For Stan as Himself
- 2006 · A Visit to Stan Brakhage as
- 2006 · Brakhage Crosses Central Park as Self
- 2006 · Notes on Marie Menken as Himself (archive footage)
- 2003 · A Visit to Stan Brakhage as Himself
- 2003 · Sonic Youth: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui (April 12, 2003) as Self (archive footage)
- 2003 · Keeping an Eye on Stan as
- 2003 · Encomium as Self
- 2002 · Life with Stan #4: Stan Painting as
- 2002 · Stan Brakhage Exits the Cinema and Enters the Light of Day as Himself
- 2002 · In the Mirror of Maya Deren as Himself
- 2002 · Vakvagany as Himself
- 2001 · Garden Path as
- 2000 · Looking at Forest of Bliss as Himself
- 1999 · Keepers of the Frame as Himself
- 1998 · Brakhage as Himself
- 1998 · I Met Stan Brakhage (At Moma, N.Y.C) as
- 1997 · Birth of a Nation as Self
- 1997 · Stan Brakhage on Gregory Markopoulos as
- 1997 · Stan Brakhage on Jim Davis as
- 1996 · Cannibal! The Musical as Noon Sr.
- 1995 · As Is Was as
- 1994 · Jonas in the Desert as Self
- 1993 · Abstract Cinema as Himself
- 1993 · Z (Zee Not Zed) as
- 1991 · Joseph Cornell: Worlds in a Box as Self
- 1989 · Watunna as Narrator
- 1988 · I... Dreaming as
- 1988 · Faust's Other: An Idyll as
- 1987 · Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye as Self
- 1986 · Invocation: Maya Deren as Himself
- 1985 · Reflecting Thought: Stan Brakhage as Self
- 1984 · Tortured Dust as
- 1981 · Stan & Jane Brakhage as Self
- 1978 · Grand Opera: An Historical Romance as Himself (voice)
- 1974 · The Stars Are Beautiful as Narrator (voice)
- 1972 · Screening Room as Himself
- 1972 · Reality's Invisible as Himself
- 1969 · Filmmakers as Himself
- 1965 · The Art of Vision as Man
- 1965 · Dog Star Man as
- 1964 · Dog Star Man: Part IV as
- 1964 · Dog Star Man: Part III as
- 1964 · Song 1 as
- 1963 · Dog Star Man: Part I as
- 1963 · Dog Star Man: Part II as
- 1962 · Prelude: Dog Star Man as
- 1959 · Window Water Baby Moving as Self (uncredited)
- 1959 · Wedlock House: An Intercourse as
- 1959 · Cat's Cradle as Self
- 1956 · Flesh of Morning as
- 1956 · The One Romantic Venture of Edward as
- 1956 · Trumpit as
- 1954 · The Extraordinary Child as